Yowch! Sarah Kaufman's depressing, but accurate take on the ballet world as refracted through the lens of the New Works Festival:

Thanks for posting, Andrew. This confirms my belief that because they way seasons are structured now, the truly inspired works of the past probably could not be made now.

Garrett and Courtney are going to Antwerp, Belgium (not Finland) to the Royal Ballet of Flanders. Chidozie left SFB at the end of the 2007 season. He'll be going to Dusseldorf, Germany, this August to join their company. Steve Norman retired. I hear 3 new soloists are coming from Cuba -- 2 men and a woman.

For the record, all 10 of the NWF pieces got considerably better with repeated viewings. By the 2nd week my admiration and enjoyment had increased exponentially. This confirms two things: (a) that this group of dancers is superb and they very quickly evolve past the "just concentrating on the steps" phase into the "making it truly their own" phase, and (b) SFB's schedule simply doesn't allow them to rehearse sufficiently to make most opening nights great. I always see every program multiple times and I almost always wish that the critics would see and review the 3rd or 4th show, not the first. I feel sorry for people (critics included) who only see SFB's first nights. They miss some truly great experiences.

A quick reminder of our courtesy rule - information on dancer firing/hirings/departures/promotions should not be posted with confirmation in the form of an official press release, article from a well respected publication or permission from the dancer(s)/press reps themselves.

It is great to have such information, but we do not want to cause problems where contracts have not been finalised or dancers and/or the companies are not ready for the info to be made public. Part of respecting companies and dancers as artists is allowing them to make the decision when to release personal information.

Cheers
Kate

Welcome, beach, and thanks for the news. I was waiting for the correction from the moderators about posting "non-approved" dancer news. In my case, I should have known better, since my source about Courtney and Garrett was second-hand. So thanks for your correction.

You are right about the value of multiple viewings. I try to go often myself, which means that the withdrawal symptoms I feel at the end of the season are even more intense.

Hope you'll keep posting.